If the Confederates are bad, why isn't Washington?
August 13, 2017 11:59 AM Subscribe
With all the uproar about the Confederates (presumably because of slave-owning), why are there not similar attacks on other slave-owners such as Washington, Jefferson, Ulysses S Grant, etc.
I have been following the situation with criticism of the Confederates, both as a result of what happened in Charlottesville yesterday but also, prior to that, because the Confederates are seen as slave-owners (though the vast majority were not). However, revered Americans such as Washington, Jefferson, Ulysses S Grant, Andrew Johnson (the one who actually freed the slaves) and, indeed, quite a few African-Americans were also slave owners and, unless I have missed it, no-one is protesting against them and tearing down statues, closing Mount Vernon/Monticello and so on. Why not?
I have been following the situation with criticism of the Confederates, both as a result of what happened in Charlottesville yesterday but also, prior to that, because the Confederates are seen as slave-owners (though the vast majority were not). However, revered Americans such as Washington, Jefferson, Ulysses S Grant, Andrew Johnson (the one who actually freed the slaves) and, indeed, quite a few African-Americans were also slave owners and, unless I have missed it, no-one is protesting against them and tearing down statues, closing Mount Vernon/Monticello and so on. Why not?
This post was deleted for the following reason: There's been lots of criticism of non-Confederate historical American figures; this is something where for a question about this to work, you're going to need to (a) probably do a little bit more reading/searching first and (b) choose a way better time to engage on this than this weekend with all the genuine awfulness that has gone down. -- cortex
They attempted to destroy the United States in order to perpetuate slavery forever. To continue venerate them is to suggest they were right to do so, noble.
Or perhaps a better way to put this would be: the American self-conception is that of a country in a perpetual struggle forward, toward a more perfect union. Toward a more perfect embodiments of the ideals expressed in the Declaration of Independence: that every person is endowed at birth with certain natural rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and it is the purpose of government to protect those rights. The failures of our ancestors in not extending those rights to all to whom they were owed is a mistake the present generation is obliged to do its best to rectify.
In that sense, Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln, because they worked toward establishing these liberties, are venerated. The confederacy, because it is premised on a perpetual denial of them to a given race of people, is shunned.
posted by Diablevert at 12:12 PM on August 13, 2017 [6 favorites]
Or perhaps a better way to put this would be: the American self-conception is that of a country in a perpetual struggle forward, toward a more perfect union. Toward a more perfect embodiments of the ideals expressed in the Declaration of Independence: that every person is endowed at birth with certain natural rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and it is the purpose of government to protect those rights. The failures of our ancestors in not extending those rights to all to whom they were owed is a mistake the present generation is obliged to do its best to rectify.
In that sense, Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln, because they worked toward establishing these liberties, are venerated. The confederacy, because it is premised on a perpetual denial of them to a given race of people, is shunned.
posted by Diablevert at 12:12 PM on August 13, 2017 [6 favorites]
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posted by brook horse at 12:08 PM on August 13, 2017 [2 favorites]